Fraudster ‘prince’ Joel Morehu-Barlow to get boot

FAKE Tahitian prince and Queensland Health fraudster Joel Morehu-Barlow will be released from jail soon - but that won’t be the end of his problems.

FAKE Tahitian prince and Queensland Health fraudster Joel Morehu-Barlow will be kicked out of Australia as soon as he is released from jail, it can be revealed.

Barlow, sentenced to 14 years’ jail for stealing $16.6m from Queensland Health, will be deported as early as December when he is expected to become eligible for parole.

Federal Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told The Courier-Mail he had cancelled Mr Barlow’s visa and he would be immediately removed upon release.

New Zealand-born Barlow has been in overcrowded Wolston jail, which houses the state’s most high-profile sex offenders and murderers.

His deportation will end a lingering embarrassment for Labor, after his fraud was uncovered while Anna Bligh was premier in 2011.

Joel Morehu-Barlow once lived in a $5.6 million Brisbane riverfront apartment.

It was the latest in a series of crisis and bungles within Queensland Health.

Barlow, who claimed to be Tahitian royalty, once lived in a $5.6m Brisbane riverfront apartment, spent hundreds of thousands on designer brand Louis Vuitton and bought lavish gifts for family and friends.

He had a New Zealand criminal history when he moved to Australia in 2005 but Queensland authorities were unaware.

Barlow worked at Queensland Health as a finance officer and money for charities and health funding instead went to business Healthy Initiatives and Choices, which he owned.

“This man deprived Queenslanders, sick Queenslanders, of millions of dollars budgeted for health spending,” Mr Dutton said.

“His possible release would mean he has served just a few years of a 14 year sentence. It is sickening to see the soft-on-crime approach of the Palaszczuk Government.”

Barlow was sentenced in 2013 when Campbell Newman was Premier and, under the terms of his sentence, will be eligible for parole in December.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad this year said the government would pursue Barlow for millions of dollars in outstanding money he owed.

Joel Morehu-Barlow.

Barlow’s former lawyer Adam Magill said: “If he doesn’t have the capacity to pay it won’t be recovered.”

The State Government yesterday claimed to have recovered $16.6m of the $16.69m owed and the remaining money was subject to individual repayment plans.

However a sum of the money had come from the Queensland Government Insurance Fund, a spokesman said.

Department of Immigration figures show 983 criminals, including 299 that were living in Queensland, had their visas cancelled and were deported in 2015-16.

It is a 13-fold increase since 2013-14.

Under section 501 of the Migration Act, criminals sentenced to 12 months or more jail face mandatory visa cancellation.

While there is a period in which the cancellation can be challenged, it is understood Barlow has not done this and the time in which to do so has expired.

A spokeswoman for Corrective Services Minister Mark Ryan confirmed the government was unable to stop Barlow’s parole bid and said the parole board was an independent statutory body.